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  • 3 weeks later...

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The Change Up

C+

I’m not sure if this is a film I’d watch the entire way through again, but it’s one of those comedies that’s worth seeing once. It has enough truly funny scenes peppered amongst the trite themes, requisite “gross out” moments, and ridiculous plot scenarios that would warrant revisiting briefly if it came up again on TV.

 

 

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SCRE4M

B-

This fourth installment in the popular 90s franchise, credited by some as reinvigorating the horror genre at the box-office, is very clever and—to use a term uttered by the characters in the film—very meta. Kevin Williamson & Wes Craven essentially attempt to “reboot” the franchise they spawned before the “studio” does so. What they come up with is indeed a very witty and poignant take on modern media (as have their previous films), but what they don’t deliver is a very scary or suspenseful film—and despite all the great lines, nostalgia factor, and clever social commentary, suspense is what the audience really demands from a film like this.

 

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Ed Hardy: Tattoo the World

B

For such an iconic figure in the tattoo world, you think Ed Hardy would get a little better treatment when it comes to production value. It appears the director of this documentary about Hardy’s life and art was really put together by a friend/fan of his over the course of the last 25-30 years. It’s too bad Hardy’s story wasn’t presented in a more thorough (and professional) manner. Luckily, Hardy’s work is powerful enough, and Hardy himself is articulate and well spoken when it comes to the discussion of art, tattooing, and his place in both worlds, and these factors really make this documentary worth watching.

 

 

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The Devil’s Double

C-

This film has some good actors and a very interesting concept—it’s based on the real life of Latif Yahia, the reluctant body double of Saddam Huessein’s malevolent son Uday. Unfortunately, what this film doesn’t have is a cohesive narrative or any real character development. The “story” begins before Operation Desert storm and meanders from one self indulgent, violent, sadistic whim of Uday’s to the next. The narrative seems to teeter back and forth between wanting to be Scarface and a less gory SAW sequel in the first two acts to a really, really poor excuse for a spy thriller in its final act.

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  • 3 months later...

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The Woman In Black

C+

Not many real frights involved, and the "mystery" of the titular woman isn't much of one. Radcliff was ok, but casting him as a widowed father seems like a bit of a stretch. Didn't this kid graduate Hogwarts last year? Overall it was moody and had some creepy moments, but not really a thriller worth theater bucks. Wait for Netflix.

 

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Chronicle

A-

Fans of Akira and Unbreakable will notice some similarities in Chronicle, but it’s hard to pull of something original with a superhero film, especially when dealing with an origin story, but this film manages to do just that—be original. I’m not a big fan of the “found footage” gimmick (e.g. Cloverfield, The Blair Witch) either, but again, Chronicle manages to handle that aspect in a clever way that’s true to the characters and story.

 

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The Grey

A-

If you’re expecting this to be another Liam Neeson helmed pop-corn action/thriller like Taken or Unkown, you’re in for a bit of a surprise. The Grey isn’t about Liam Neeson vs. Wolves like the trailers suggest; don’t get me wrong, it’s got fantastic action scenes directed beautifully by Joe Carnahan, but the film goes much more deeper than a typical action romp. The Grey wants the audience to ask questions about life and death, mortality and survival. And the story is told in a manner that mirrors the Alaskan wilderness where it takes place—harsh, Spartan, and unforgiving. This is the kind of film that stays with you long after the credits (which you should watch to the very end) have stopped rolling.

 

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War Horse

A-

Steven Spielberg has sometimes been accused of being a master of the maudlin, and it’s true enough that this film sometimes drifts into the realm overtly sentimental, but the characters are so wonderfully likeable that you don’t really mind. You will find yourself cheering for this horse and fearing for this horse. The trench warfare of World War I is the film’s setting, but like most good war films, War Horse isn’t so much about one war as it is about war in general. And this film is as close to a perfect “family friendly” film about war as you’re likely to ever see in that it can speak to a 9-12-year old just as much as it can to an adult.

 

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The Artist

A

The one word that comes to mind when trying to describe this film is charming. This is a silent film that’s all about the death of silent films. As if the premise wasn’t off-putting enough to main-stream audiences, the leading man and lady are both new to modern American audiences. However, they are both delightful to watch, and the cast of supporting characters should be familiar enough to most modern moviegoers. While HUGO was a love letter to cinema, The Artist is a love letter to Hollywood, and more specifically the film stars and the funnily fickle relationships audiences have with them. And if you give this film a chance it will charm you.

 

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A Dangerous Method

B-

It follows the development and deterioration of the relationship between Jung (Michael Fassbender) and Freud (Viggo Mortenssen). Most of the focus is on Jung and a female Russian patient, played by Kiera Knightley in a memorable performance, whom eventually becomes a colleague and his mistress. Much like Jung’s love life, this film’s narrative struggles to find a solid foothold (especially with the ending), and anyone going into this film without at least a basic knowledge of psychoanalysis may be left wondering what’s going on during more than one scene.

 

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The Descendants

B+

The loss of a parent is a traumatic scenario but not one unfamiliar to the world of film—every third Disney film seemingly deals with it. However, this film puts a twist on the situation by taking it from the perspective of the spouse rather than the children. George Clooney delivers a great performance as a man confronting the loss of his wife (in more ways than one) and the sweeping changes the loss will make to his life.

 

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Warrior

B

It's the male equivalent of a chick flick, which is probably why it did so poorly at the box office. Male audience members don't usually like emotionality mixed in w/ their MMA fighting and women probably (?) didn’t understand why everyone had to beat the crap out of each other for it to be a happy ending. Not as good of a story as last year's The Fighter, but some great performances by Tom Hardy and Nick Nolte (which got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor) and some brutal fights. This one is definitely worth watching, just have a few tissues handy.

Edited by Mr. Hakujin
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Grr. I thought I fixed the pic issue w/ the edit, but I guess not. Can't be arsed to go back and correct 'em at the moment.

 

As for Chronicle I pulled a Logan watched the cam, but definitely will be buying the bluray and possibly seeing it in the theaters before it's shuffled out. Roger Ebert posted an interesting and in depth article about the film on his fb page. I'll repost it in the "Offical Hondo's Chronicle Thread."

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  • 4 months later...

Not a mini-review, but it's been a few months since I've done an update, so I'm owed a bit of slack for the forthcoming verbosity..

 

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Beasts of the Southern Wild

A

 

A good film is a confluence of many variables. A good director orchestrates these variables into a finished form. Beasts of the Southern Wild is such a film and Behn Zeitlin is such a director. And the brilliance of Zeitlin is that he manages to take all manner of seemingly contradictory elements and make them,as a nameless boat captain says in the film, cohesive.

 

One such variable is story. Hushpuppy is a six-year-old girl who lives with her father on the wrong side of a levee in a fictitious Southeast Louisiana town called The Bathtub. The film follows her point of view, and the world of her active imagination and the real world around her often intertwine on screen. The film is your standard coming of age story, but it is this unique perspective of Hushpuppy and her understanding of the world around her that is the foundation of the film and its magic.

 

Another variable is music. The director worked closely with his friend and composer Dan Romer in creating the score for the film. The result is one of the best scores in modern cinema. Just like the film, the music is a beautiful blend of contradictions. It's uplifting yet tinged with sadness, vast yet intimate, wise and noble yet naive and playful.

 

And the final variable I'll mention is performance. Other reviewers have made mention of the non-actors that occupy this film. This is another example of the director taking the contradictory and making it cohesive. It would seem unlikely that those untrained in the craft of acting would be able to aptly portray such subtlety, humor, love and pathos yet there it is on film for all to see.

 

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a film that will simultaneously break, mend, and uplift your heart. Do your soul a favor and see this film.

Edited by Mr. Hakujin
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Darkon

B

This well shot and edited documentary takes a fair and serious look at LARPers, their real lives, and their motivations for putting so much devotion into Darkon, the name this Maryland LARP community gave their “world.” Intertwined with these individual portraits is the unfolding story of the Darkon, um, “realm.” At the center of this tale is a King of Kong like focus on two warring factions. One faction, led by a stay-at-home dad, unites the other nations to rise in battle against Darkon’s only superpower. I won’t lie, there are some genuine cringe-worthy moments (mostly those pre-battle ceremonies). Yet by the film’s final battle, I actually found myself caring enough about the real people behind the fictional armies that I was genuinely invested in the outcome. No small feat for those of us raised on films and TV with flawless special effects and $100 million budgets.

 

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The Sitter

C

Jonah Hill plays a slacker college dropout who has one wild night out while babysitting where all involved learn a valuable life lesson. Yes, this was already a movie in the 80s called Adventures In Babysitting. No, it’s not a remake; however, the director has some weird obsession with the 80s and likes throwing in random anachronistic 80s gags. The only real joy in this movie comes from seeing Hill say things to the faces of bratty, privileged suburbanite kids we all wish we could say. The rest of the film is either too clichéd or too bizarre to be funny.

 

 

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Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark

D+

You know those horror movies where you scream at the screen because the characters behave in a ridiculously idiotic way, which only serves to further the plot to its obvious conclusion? Yeah, this is one of those movies except it’s not really that scary. Although, it does get points for having truly unique, creepy, cool looking sets and antagonists.

 

 

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Project X

C

Every generation has their “party” movie: Animal House, House Party, seemingly one out of every five movies made in the 80s. And this one is for the dubstep/iPad generation. Not being of that generation and having seen many of Project X’s predecessors (including the much more awesome Mathew Broderick/Helen Hunt film of the same name), I was left feeling less than impressed by this film. However, there were some funny moments and a non-stop killer soundtrack.

 

 

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Little Fockers

C

Most of the conflict comes from rehashing old stuff from the original Focker films. However, this latest installment has a few bright spots, such as Jessica Alba in bra & panties, and a few good one liners—mostly from Owen Wilson’s pretentious, granola, millionaire investment banker character and Laura Dern’s all too brief cameo as a principal of an elitist kindergarten.

 

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Get the Gringo

C

Mel Gibson phones in a performance as a not-so-bad criminal stuck in a unique kind of Mexican prison. The script, co-written by Gibson, isn’t terrible (the premise of the prison is pretty interesting) yet it’s not as clever as it strives to be. It also suffers from some truly uninspired directing.

Edited by Mr. Hakujin
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  • 4 weeks later...

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The Watch

C+

If you put Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller and Jonah Hill in something it’s going to make me laugh. Throw in Richard Ayode from the UK series The IT Crowd, and I’m sold on the cast alone. Make the premise a neighborhood watch uncovers an alien invasion and now you’ve really got this fanboy excited. However, The Watch suffered from uneven pacing, an uninteresting subplot, a cast that seemed uncharacteristically muted throughout the film and whose best scenes suffered from the marketing curse of being spoiled in the trailer. The Watch isn’t a bad film, just one that doesn’t meet its potential.

 

 

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TED

B+

If you’re a fan of the TV show Family Guy or of the 1980s film Flash Gordon, then you should love Seth McFarlane’s directorial debut Ted. It plays like an R-rated episode of the TV show only with fewer non-sequiturs and more of an actual plot.

 

 

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Brave

B

It centers on a rebellious Scottish princess with a unique head of hair (requisite for all Disney Princesses) and the conflict she has with her mother. Brave has comedy, magic, animal companions, and a fierce battle with a terrible monster of legend. The only two things separating this from your standard Disney flick is the lack of musical numbers and the fact this Disney Princess has no prince; she rescues herself, mostly. If this were a Disney film I might even be impressed, but it’s a Pixar film. Pixar has produced some world’s best films (Not animated films, but films. Period.) over the past 13 years, and Brave delivers on beautiful animation and requisite Disney tropes, but it does not deliver a story or characters on par with their work in Finding Nemo, Up, Wall-E, or the Toy Story films.

 

 

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Men in Black 3

B

MIB 3 has the same quirky sense of humor and slightly off kilter tone as its predecessors. The downside to that tonal familiarity is at times the movie can leave you with a “been there, done that” feeling teetering on boredom. Also, I found the ending was a bit lacking for such a big build up. However, if you’re a sucker for time travel/fish out of water stories like I am or if you enjoy the Agent J/Agent K dynamic as much as I do then you probably won’t mind the film’s faults because the rest of the movie is to fun not to enjoy.

 

 

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Snow White & the Huntsman

B

Director Rupert Sanders was going for a LOTR feel and managed to get the pacing, costumes, sets, and cinematography down nearly perfect; although he tried to crib a bit too much from the Peter Jackson handbook in some places–solemn singing scenes and montages of characters walking in particular. It also doesn’t help when the titular character is played by the least charismatic person on the screen, and I ain't talkin' 'bout Thor. Charlize Theron, however, is fantastic as the evil queen, and the dwarves were great and left me wishing they’d had more screen time.

Edited by Mr. Hakujin
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  • 1 month later...

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The Master

A

The Master is a divisive film, and oddly enough not so much so for its content (or lack thereof depending on whom you’re speaking to), but rather for the way the content is presented. It’s one of those films that seems to leave little middle ground for people: they either want to see it again or wish they’d never spent time on it to begin with. Much like writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s last film, There Will Be Blood, The Master is a character driven piece, but The Master moves at a much more languid pace and has a less defined and dramatic conclusion for its two male leads than Blood. Nevertheless, I found The Master an equally compelling film.

 

The Master takes on big subjects like religion/cult, truth, love, acceptance, purpose, and reincarnation. The audience experiences these subjects via the post-WWII relationship between two very interesting, very angry men: Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix). Dodd is a middle-aged author and leader of a growing organization known as The Cause, and Quell is an alcoholic ex-sailor, drifting through his life after the war. The performances are gripping, and Anderson does a wonderful job of showing the audience these two men rather than telling us about them. Of course, this isn’t a documentary, so Anderson isn’t obligated to be unbiased as to what or how he shows the audience. This makes for gripping, thought provoking cinema.

 

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Dredd [3D]

A-

There has been no shortage of action films lately where the plot revolves around characters surviving an urban high-rise apartment building full of obstacles: zombies in The Horde, aliens in Attack the Block, and drug lords in The Raid: Redemption. Dredd has the same conceit (except this one is set in a post-apocalyptic future) yet never feels like it is trite or clichéd. The action sequences looked spectacular in 3D. Lena Hedey is under used as the evil drug lord, but Karl Urban plays the titular Dredd with muted badassness throughout. And it’s Olivia Thirlby, as the rookie cop with an edge, that undergoes “the heroes journey” in the film and gave perhaps the best performance. Dredd is a quality, solid action film that won’t disappoint fans of the genre.

 

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Expendables 2

B+

This is the film I expected the first Sly Stallone led action ensemble to be, and it’s one of the rare sequels that outdoes the original film. The plot is paper thin, the acting questionable, and the dialogue meh; however the ‘splosions are big, the asskickery is set at near maximum, and the body counts are in the triple digits. If you loved the action films of the 80s then Expendables 2 is your kind of movie.

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  • 1 month later...

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Argo

A-

A surprisingly engrossing thriller based on real events between the USA & Iran from 1979-1980 involving hostages from a US embassy and how the CIA tried to extract them from Iran. The film has great performances and direction, and it also has a pleasant side effect as a wonderful modern history lesson on the hostile Iranian/US relationship, which is unfortunately all too relevant in 2012.

 

 

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Cloud Atlas

B+

The film was a technical winner with editing and cinematography (make-up was hit or miss for me though) and it masterfully blended most of the major genres of cinema (comedy, drama/romance, mystery, and sci-fi/action) into one film. However, for me Cloud Atlas’ epically scaled story lost some of its grandeur because the TV show Battlestar Gallactica did something very similar over the course of four wonderful seasons. I'm glad I saw it in the theater as it's a film shot with great scope and despite the many characters and interconnected stories, the message is quite simple: we are all connected and what we do and feel transcends time.

 

 

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Wreck-It Ralph

B+

Disney finally put out its first great non-Pixar film in a long time. This film has a sugary sweet center surrounded by lots of edgy humor, and it does for video games what Toy Story did for toys. It’s a great film for gamers and non-gamers alike. Also, if you weren’t a Sarah Silverman fan before this film, you likely will be one after.

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The Girl

C+

The true(?) story of Alfred Hitchcock’s obsession with actress Tippi Hedren. It’s an odd tale of sexual harassment that attempts to turn the making of Tippi’s two Hitchcock films (The Birds & Marnie) in to a Hitchcock film in real life. Tobey Jones gives the only memorable performance as a tortured, insecure, and at times wickedly cruel Hitchcock that let’s his obsession with Tippi overtake and nearly ruin his life.

 

 

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Safety Not Guaranteed

B

It’s a quirky, sweet indie rom-com with mediocre direction, an okay script, and a great cast. Aubrey Plaza plays a caustic, sad loner intern at a hip Seattle magazine that takes on an assignment to investigate a man who put out a newspaper ad looking for a partner to time travel with.

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  • 2 months later...

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Life of Pi [3D]

B+

Ang Lee’s film maintains all the important elements and themes from the original novel—spirituality/religion, discovery of self, and survival. Director Ang Lee makes the most of the 3D medium and creates an enjoyable big screen experience.

 

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Lincoln

B+

One of the most entertaining history lessons I’ve ever had.

 

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Looper

B+

Writer/director Rian Johnson is not in any new territory with the film’s gritty, futuristic city, anti-hero protagonist, and concepts of time travel. The first 2/3 of the film is almost like a modern day Blade Runner. However, none of it felt clichéd or repetitive. The performances and direction are great throughout the film, but it unraveled for me a bit at the end when the third act of the film became less sci-fi-noir and more of a heavy handed treatise on what makes a person a villain versus a hero. It’s not Rian Johnson’s fault the film Chronicle took on the same concept in a very similar way less than a year earlier. So the ending third wasn’t as satisfying as the rest of the film for me, but it was still a really great addition to the genre.

 

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El Bulli: Cooking in Progress

C

Very interesting restaurant and the chefs have a very unique take on food and “avant garde” dining. Too bad the film makers chose to present their techniques and philosophy’s with so little context that only those foodies “in the know,” knew what was really going on. This often made the first hour of the documentary a tedious watch.

 

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Salmon Fishing In the Yemen

B

This is a sweet love story about making the impossible possible through faith (and a boat load of money), yet it doesn’t come off as preachy or overly saccharine. Ewan Macgregor and Emily Blunt give good performances and pull off the humor and depth of their characters beautifully.

 

 

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Taken 2

B

Liam Neeson is killing more Albanian gangsters, but this time in Istanbul and with the help of his daughter. It is well paced, but the plot isn’t as good as the original and the sense of urgency and energy just wasn’t here like it was in the first film. Faults aside, there were a few great scenes with Neeson being a total badass, and that make sit worth watching for me.

 

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After Porn Ends

C

This unevenly shot documentary delves in to life for various “retired” porn stars. It tries to take a well rounded look at the industry and how it affected many people in different ways. However, even though several of the subjects interviewed do discuss their past addictions, the film never shows anyone living or struggling to break free of the “darker side” of porn (addiction to drugs/alcohol and crime). Everyone interviewed drives an SUV and has a house in the burbs throughout the film; however, at the end they throw in blurbs about each person interviewed, and practically every female interviewed has either returned to porn or succumbed to their addictions.

 

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White Christmas

B-

I watched this to try and balance out the porn doc. The plot is flimsy yet ultimately heartwarming. And the songs and dance numbers are plentiful yet not all that memorable save for the titular number and one about sisters.

 

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Pitch Perfect

C

I came for the comedy and not the music; unfortunately, both were meh. The plot and protagonist were excruciating at times. It’s hard to feel empathy for a privileged, young, attractive, white girl who is moody for no other reason than her daddy wants to pay for her college.

 

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Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project

A-

John Landis directs this hilarious documentary following the career of insult comic Don Rickles with a heavy focus on his celebrity friends, especially his relationship with Bob Newhart and Johnny Carson, as well as Rickles’ time in Las Vegas.

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keep it up haku.. i know it's a little late, but can you have like a larger scale or be meaner to the movies you pick, like pitch perfect? lol.

 

anyway.. if you could how about Arbitrage, Rock of ages and Bourne legacy? what you think of Amazing Spiderman, Premium Rush, prometheus and dark night rises (my recent thumbs ups) sorry you didn't quite share my disappointment with expendables 2 (given), brave, taken 2, killer joe and cloud atlas (tries so hard to be epic). i thought artist was a tad better than average and warrior way underrated.

 

im guessing you probably just put your reviews in the appropriate threads, its just that it's scary to go in them with all those untagged spoilers...

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Yeah, Pitch Perfect had it's moments, but they were very few and far between. I could've easily graded it a D or D+, but I tried to be more lenient w/ the grade as I am truly not a fan of the singing/GLEE type stuff. I went in to it knowing it wasn't going to be my cuppa. Thankfully, I wasn't dating anyone this summer interested in seeing Rock of Ages, so not much chance I'll ever see that one. Bourne Legacy got such bad reviews I stayed away from it even though it looked interesting. I haven't even bothered to DL it. Killer Joe is on my to see list. And I can't believe I didn't post my Spidey or Batman reviews. I'll get those up soon. Ditto for Premium Rush and Arbitage.

Edited by Mr. Hakujin
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